Coconut Truffles

Remember this pin?

Remember how irritated you were when you clicked on the link and it took you to Flickr.com and it was just a picture, no instructions? 

For all you coconut lovers, out there, I've solved your problem. 

I looked around to find a recipe that I thought would be yummy and ended up combining a couple, here and here. You'll want to use medium shredded coconut (1 step up from finely shredded). Or you can decide what look you're going for and choose a coconut from there. 

Ingredients:

8 oz. plain cream cheese

1/2 c. CASTOR sugar (powdered sugar (suggested ingredient) is gross! ew) (but i SUPPOSE you could use whatever you like/have on hand)

4 c shredded coconut (if using unsweetened, increase the amount of sugar)

8 oz. white chocolate (block, NOT CHIPS!!)(You'll find out why below)

Method:

Cream your cream cheese (ironic, i know) using either a stand or hand mixer. Mix in the sugar and 2 cups of the coconut. Form small (about 1/2 inch) balls, place on a cookie sheet lined in parchment paper, and put them in the freezer for at least 20 minutes. I left mine to the next day and they were fine. 

Ok, so here's the tricky part. Tempering your chocolate. I wanted the chocolate coating on my candies to snap, so they wouldn't be all squishy. The first time I attempted these, I didn't know anything about tempering chocolate and so every single ball was a squishy mess. Turns out, tempering chocolate isn't so hard, just a bit tricky to get the hang of. You can read all about it here (this is where you learn why you  need a block of chocolate and not the chips).

So, basically, follow the directions from the link above (she explains it better than I could) to get your melted chocolate. Or if you don't care if your candies are squishy (you probably will; just sayin) you can melt the chocolate however you would like. Then dip each ball in the chocolate, using a fork to drain off the excess (as pictured below). 

Drop your chocolate covered ball into a bowl of plain coconut. I used a different fork in the coconut bowl so I didn't get flakes in my chocolate. 

Place back on your baking sheet and allow them to dry. As you can see, I got better and better with my method as I progressed (the first ones are at the bottom of the picture). I also started using smaller coconut flakes and they look waay better.

I don't have any pretty pictures of them :( and they got consumed much too quickly (thank you, work peeps)

Flour-less Chocolate Cake

Mmmmmm 

Chocolaaaaaaate

OMG this chocolate cake is so good.

El and I had the best dessert while in Montana a few months ago. Flour-less chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and some sort of vanilla sauce (that neither of us can remember the name of). It was a really dense, really dark cake and it was soooo good. 

I wanted to replicate it, or something pretty close, but got sidetracked by this recipe from Martha Stewart. A dark chocolate cake with a touch of meringue sounded like heaven. And it was! So light and airy. The texture perfectly offset the rich, dark taste of the cake. Yumm-o!

Oh and my grocery store decided not to have raspberries for the first time in like 3 months. So I went with a blackberry sauce. And I used just plain, heavy whipping cream to offset the richness of the rest of the dessert. It soaked into the cake, but didn't make it soggy. 

So my dessert didn't turn out anything like the one we had in Montana. So sue me! Chocolate is delicious and that's all.   

Berry Sauce

1 cup berries of choice 

1-2 T sugar

1/2 of a lemon or 1-2 t lemon juice

1 t corn starch

1 T water

Combine berries, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon sugar in a saucepan; add more lemon juice for a tarter taste, less for a sweeter taste. Heat on medium heat until the berries start to break down. Smash using the back of a spoon or some other ingenious smashing method that you have come up with. Taste the sauce and add the other tablespoon of sugar (or more) if you decide it needs it. 

Combine the cornstarch and water in a separate bowl; mix into berry stuff and bring to a boil. Let cool and enjoy!

If it turns out too thick, you can always thin it down with liquid of your choice.